The present invention relates to an interchangeable earring holder for interchangeably receiving at least one of a variety of different earring accessories in an open position and thereafter being closed in a releasable locked position.
The present invention is an improvement over U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,078 dated Sept. 26, 1989 and entitled "Earring Holder".
As recognized in the aforementioned patent, most women have a great variety of types and kinds of earrings which are in different shapes, styles and colors to match the type of clothes worn, the time of day and the function to be attended. Unfortunately, many women cannot wear pierced costume earrings because they experience infections caused by the non-precious metal in earring jewelry. As a result, many women find that they are unable to wear costume earrings that they have already purchased or would like to purchase, for a particular use or occasion. To make matters worse, although 14 Karat gold earrings can help alleviate this problem, many women cannot justify the much greater expense of owning several pairs of gold earrings.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,078, a spring loaded hook section may be moved between an open position where the spring loaded hook section extends transverse to an earring holder body for interchangeably mounted at least one earring accessory and a closed position where the spring loaded hook member is generally aligned with the earring holder body for releasably securing at least one earring accessory in spring biased relationship to the earring holder body. In that patent, a convolutely wound spring extends about an elongated rod section of the hook member and is positioned within a hollow body portion of an earring holder body, in order to enable the hook member to be moved between the aforesaid open and closed positions.
While the specific construction shown in the aforementioned patent works quite well and in the manner desired, it has been discovered that the inclusion of several parts and their assembly to one another may result in a higher cost than is desired. Further, with these several parts, there is added complexity in the assembly steps and the further risk that the end product may have a shorter life cycle than expected.
The new and improved interchangeable earring holder construction of the present invention overcomes such problems, while retaining all of the desirable features of this patent. As a result, the interchangeable earring holder construction of the present invention continues to provide flexibility to the consumer in mixing and matching an unlimited variety of decorative fine gold or costume pieces with the interchangeable earring holder of the present invention, while substantially facilitating use of the product, manufacturing techniques, the attendant cost involved, and the life cycle of the product.